The United Nations could take control over ICANN: WSJ

According to The Wall Street Journal columnist Gordon Crovitz, the United Nations could take over control of the Internet when the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) passes from U.S. administration to the control of a multilateral body which he claims is likely to be the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

While defenders of the transition have denied that the UN will have authority over ICANN, Gordon Crovitz claims that ICANN will need to be run by a state agency in order to retain its antitrust exemption, which makes it almost certain that the UN will take control.

Crovitz says :

It’s shocking the administration admits it has no plan for how ICANN retains its antitrust exemption.

The reason ICANN can operate the entire World Wide Web root zone is that it has the status of a legal monopolist, stemming from its contract with the Commerce Department that makes ICANN an “instrumentality” of government.

He further claims in his article that UN control would almost certainly allow tyrannical regimes some degree of control over Americans’ Internet use.